TGCFNM -Chapter 420 Asking Wu Ting About the Past

On the carriage, Wan Sanjin glanced at Chu Ling, then at the prison warden, before turning to Su He.

Su He reached out and gently pushed Wan Sanjin’s face aside.

Chu Ling casually wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at the man in black, masked: “Warden, take off your mask. Those eyes of yours are too recognizable.”

The warden removed the face covering and looked at Chu Ling.

Chu Ling was a little puzzled. How had Wu Ting’s eyes become so intimidating after he grew up? They lacked the lively spirit of Wu Huan.

But Wu Huan immediately cried out: “Brother… but why have you changed so much?”

“Could he not have changed? Escaping death, barely clinging to life,” Bai Su said.

Wan Sanjin was shocked: “Warden, did you have a grudge against the Si family? You went alone to kill Si Yuanqi? Didn’t care about your life?”

“Not alone,” Chu Ling interjected, looking at the warden. “He had an accomplice. That accomplice was probably testing you first, and you must have realized something was off, right?”

The warden fell silent for a moment, then hoarsely replied, “A little.”

Chu Ling frowned: “A little? He clearly wanted you two to destroy each other. Tell me, who exactly did you offend?”

The warden said nothing.

Chu Ling thought for a moment, then decided to be straightforward: “We’ve been investigating a case recently, at Lord Lu’s request. It concerns a theft from eight years ago involving Wu Ting of the Wu family. That case also involves the Si family, which is why we came today looking for clues… but we didn’t expect to run into you.”

The warden’s brow furrowed: “You’re investigating?”

“Of course we are,” Chu Ling said. “We’ve uncovered quite a bit. For instance, back then the Wu family was ambushed outside the city. The culprits might have been a group of beggars.”

The warden frowned: “Lord Chu, what nonsense are you talking about? Are you saying beggars committed the murders?”

Chu Ling smiled: “That’s interesting, Warden. How do you know I’m speaking nonsense instead of presenting the results of an investigation?”

The warden opened his mouth but then turned his head away.

Chu Ling noticed the wounds on his body and frowned slightly, speaking directly: “We found the autopsy reports of the Wu family members from that time. From them, we saw that although the weapons used were the same, the depth of the wounds varied. So we suspect there were men and women, even young and old… A group like that acting together would most likely be beggars.”

“So we believe someone has been organizing beggars as a hidden force of their own. They can gather suddenly or blend into crowds, which is why they were impossible to trace.”

The warden’s pupils contracted, perhaps recalling something.

Wan Sanjin looked at Chu Ling curiously: “Lord Chu, why are you telling him all this?”

Su He pinched his forehead: “Since Lord Chu has come out and said it directly, he suspects the warden is from the Wu family. Otherwise, who would risk trying to kill Si Yuanqi? Si Yuanqi was the former deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, and the Si family is still a prominent household. Who would act if not completely unencumbered?”

Wan Sanjin suddenly understood. He looked at the warden: “Then Warden, you are from the Wu family… Wu Ting’s uncle?”

The warden shook his head slightly.

Wan Sanjin was about to guess further when the warden quietly spoke.

“I am Wu Ting.”

“Oh, you’re Wu… you’re Wu Ting!” Wan Sanjin jumped in shock, so suddenly that he hit the roof of the carriage.

Su He hurriedly pulled him down to sit.

“You’re not dead? Lord Lu said you had died, and yet you’re serving as a prison warden at the Dali Temple. Was Lord Lu in on it with you?” Wan Sanjin rubbed his aching head.

Wu Ting shook his head. “Everyone thought I was dead. Back then, my family… they had my sister die in my place. They even spent money to bribe officials, changing the gender and height in the autopsy report. After my sister’s death, my parents packed up and left the capital with the whole family.”

Since everything was out in the open, Wu Ting recounted the events of that year in full. The reason Wu Ting trusted them so much was partly because of Lord Lu and partly because of Chu Ling.

Lord Lu had indeed tried to uncover the truth at the time, but circumstances forced him to stop.

As for Chu Ling, since Lord Lu asked her to re-investigate and she traced it to Si Yuanqi, Wu Ting found her trustworthy.

Noticing Wu Ting’s trust, Chu Ling began asking questions: “Did your sister ever meet any strangers back then?”

“Since the jade Guanyin incident led to the downfall of the Wu family, can you still remember clearly?”

“Did the Wu family have any enemies?”

“The person who delivered the invitation—did anyone see his face clearly?”

“And the person who helped you—who was it? When the Wu family was ambushed, who saved you?”

Wu Ting took a deep breath and answered from the beginning: “My sister and our maid often stayed in the side courtyard and rarely went out. I never heard of her meeting anyone. If she did, it would only have been when outsiders visited the Wu family.”

“At that time, the Wu family didn’t receive many visitors aside from a few acquaintances. Only when I was sixteen, because I passed the county-level exam, did a lot of people come. Besides familiar families, there were other scholars around my age, and some younger.”

“The Wu family probably had no enemies. After all, we were already in decline—who could we threaten? As for the person from the Si family who delivered the invitation, I don’t know who he was. But my father said he seemed too young. At first, I didn’t believe it either; it was just a trial visit.”

Chu Ling listened carefully, watching Wu Ting’s expressions closely.

Wu Ting closed his eyes. “As for those memories… they’ve disappeared.”

Chu Ling glanced at Wu Huan and said, “Since the memories are gone, it might mean you never actually experienced them. Perhaps you were just hypnotized. You didn’t truly steal anything—but you did gamble what you thought you had.”

Wu Ting looked dazed. “I’ve thought of that possibility too, but I can’t figure out why I became like that…”

Chu Ling deliberately said, “That was also because you had a flaw. If you weren’t inclined to gamble, who could have set you up?”

Wu Ting gave a bitter laugh. “Back then, it seemed I had no control over myself. I threw myself into the gambling houses. I just wanted to win, had to win.”

“How did you go to the gambling house when you normally went to school?” Chu Ling asked.

“My friend’s jade pendant was stolen. Someone had taken it to a gambling house. It was something given to him by his grandmother, very precious. So I went in with him to win it back—and then… then I couldn’t stop,” Wu Ting explained.

Chu Ling casually asked, “Is that friend still in the capital?”

“The year the Wu family suffered its misfortune, he also left the capital with his family,” Wu Ting replied.